Indiana Couple Appeals to Supreme Court After Losing Custody for Not Using Transgender Son’s Preferred Pronouns (VIDEO)
An Indiana Catholic couple, Mary and Jeremy Cox, are taking their legal battle to the Supreme Court after their son was removed from their home by the state government for not using his preferred gender pronouns.
In 2019, their son declared a female gender identity, which the Coxes, devout Catholics, did not acknowledge in accordance with their religious beliefs. They instead sought therapy for what they considered underlying mental health issues.
“The Coxes also believed that he needed help for underlying mental health concerns, including an eating disorder. To address both issues, they provided therapeutic care for their child’s gender dysphoria and scheduled appointments with a specialist to help him with the eating disorder,” according to the press release.
The Indiana Department of Child Services started an investigation in 2021 when it came to light that the Coxes were not addressing their son by his chosen name and pronouns.
Despite the absence of abuse, Indiana officials decided that the couple’s non-acceptance of their son’s gender identity was harmful to the child’s mental health and contributed to an eating disorder, leading to the child’s removal. He was placed in a foster home that affirmed his transgender identity.
According to Indiana state officials, the child “should be in a home where she is [ac] accepted for who she is.”
The press release added, “The court restricted the Coxes’ visitation time to a few hours once a week and barred them from speaking to their child about their religious views on human sexuality and gender identity.”
“After completing its investigation, Indiana made an about-face and abandoned all allegations against Mary and Jeremy, admitting that the accusations of abuse were unsubstantiated. However, Indiana surprised the parents by arguing that the disagreement over gender identity was distressing to their child and contributed to his eating disorder—even though that disorder became worse after he was removed and placed in a transition-affirming home. The trial court relied on Indiana’s argument to keep the child out of his parents’ custody and keep the gag order in place. In short, even though the court agreed that the Coxes were fit parents, it upheld the removal of their child. An appeals court upheld the removal.”
WATCH:
NEW: Catholic Indiana couple appeals to Supreme Court after their child was taken from them after they refused to refer to him as his preferred pronouns.
Utter insanity.
In 2021, the Indiana Department of Child Services investigated parents Mary and Jeremy Cox and later took… pic.twitter.com/XsFRBKoadn
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 21, 2024
Nearly two years following their child’s removal by Indiana authorities, Mary and Jeremy were left with no choice but to seek intervention from the Supreme Court.
On February 15, 2024, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, alongside the Hershberger Law Office, filed a reply brief at the Supreme Court, Reply Brief in M.C. and J.C. v. Indiana Department of Child Services, challenging the Indiana court decisions and urging the protection of parental rights to raise children in line with their faith.
Mary and Jeremy Cox maintain that their actions were motivated by deeply held religious beliefs and contend that the state has unjustly infringed upon their right to raise their child according to those beliefs.
“This is what every parent is afraid of. We love our son and wanted to care for him, but the state of Indiana robbed us of that opportunity by taking him from our home and banning us from speaking to him about gender,” Mary and Jeremy Cox said in a statement.
“We are hopeful that the Justices will take our case and protect other parents from having to endure the nightmare we did,” the couple added.
Lori Windham, senior counsel at Becket, asserts that the legal outcome could set a nationwide precedent, potentially affecting countless other families.
“If this can happen in Indiana, it can happen anywhere. Tearing a child away from loving parents because of their religious beliefs, which are shared by millions of Americans, is an outrage to the law, parental rights, and basic human decency,” Windham said. “If the Supreme Court doesn’t take this case, how many times will this happen to other families?”
This situation echoes the case of Todd and Krista Kolstad, whose 14-year-old daughter was allegedly taken from them by Montana’s Child Protective Services and moved to Wyoming for gender transition treatment, resulting in the total loss of their custody rights.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that their daughter was transported to Wyoming, a state with different laws regarding the medical transition of minors, by the Montana CPS for treatment of her sudden onset “gender dysphoria,” despite the parents’ express disapproval.
Following her transport to Wyoming, the Kolstad’s daughter was subjected to social transition measures like chest binding and is now under consultation for birth control to halt her menses, actions that align with a model criticized as a fast track from social to medical transition.
The Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) petitioned the court to fully revoke their custody of Jennifer and arrange for her transfer to her biological mother in Canada, who has been an absent parent for the past seven years.
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